The naval battles off Guadalcanal in 1942 were part of the first major U.S. amphibious offensive in the Pacific. Although the U.S. Navy’s performance in the campaign was mixed, the fighting at Guadalcanal resulted in the seizure of the strategic initiative from Japan. The Navy’s ability to rapidly adapt to unanticipated tactical and technological problems was crucial to the ultimate success of the campaign and set the stage for the ultimate defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).
Navy Art Collection painting depicting destroyer Laffey just after she has crossed under the Japanese battleship Hiei’s bow and is engaging the battleship with 5-inch and 20-mm guns—and sidearms—at near-point-blank range on 13 November 1942 off Guadalcanal.
Following the victory at Midway in early June 1942, Admiral Ernest J. King, CNO and Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet, ordered the seizure of the Solomon Islands, which led to numerous naval actions off Guadalcanal. The operation was intended to protect the United States’ lines of communication with Australia and New Zealand and to set the conditions for the seizure or destruction of the major Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain. On August 7th, the U.S. First Marine Division landed and quickly captured the airfield at Guadalcanal and several nearby islands. The Japanese quickly counterattacked, and fighting for control of the island and its vital airfield raged for several months.
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